Lesson in History: The Making of Pakistan

On the joyous occasion of the on-going Independence celebrations, let us step into a time capsule and journey through history about the creation of Pakistan. Pakistan is a country made by the hard work and dedication of our ancestors with the guidance and attention given by our supreme leader Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. According to the Pakistan studies curriculum, Muhammad bin Qasim is often referred to as the first Pakistani. While Prakash K. Singh attributes the arrival of Muhammad bin Qasim as the first step towards the creation of Pakistan. Muhammad Ali Jinnah considered the Pakistan movement to have started when the first Muslim put a foot in the Gateway of Islam. The points raised by Jinnah in the Two Nation Theory were justified to the last word. Muslims and Hindu’s cannot co-exist in one country, under one leadership. Muslims have a different mindset as compared to Hindu’s. Both cannot ever be on the same page.

The Hindu Maha Sabha under the presidency of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar discussed the idea of Hindus and Muslims being two separate nations 16 years before Jinnah did. However, Savarkar’s idea of “two nations” did not translate into two separate countries. B. R. Ambedkar summarised Savarkar’s position thus:
Mr. Savarkar… insists that, although there are two nations in India, India shall not be divided into two parts, one for Muslims and the other for the Hindus; that the two nations shall dwell in one country and shall live under the mantle of one single constitution;… In the struggle for political power between the two nations the rule of the game which Mr. Savarkar prescribes is to be one man one vote, be the man Hindu or Muslim. In his scheme, a Muslim is to have no advantage which a Hindu does not have. A majority is to be no justification for privilege and majority is to be no ground for the penalty. The State will guarantee the Muslims any defined measure of political power in the form of Muslim religion and Muslim culture. But the State will not guarantee secured seats in the Legislature or in the Administration and, if such guarantee is insisted upon by the Muslims, such guaranteed quota is not to exceed their proportion to the general population.
Gandhi was against the division of India on the basis of religion. He once wrote:

“I find no parallel in history for a body of converts and their descendants claiming to be a nation apart from the parent stock.”

Although there were so many people who dissuaded him from the fact the Two Nation Theory was not applicable in this situation, Mohammad Ali Jinnah was adamant that what he had said was correct and he would not back down from his justifiable demands.

In an interview with the British journalist Beverley Nichols, he said in 1943:

“Islam is not only a religious doctrine but also a realistic code of conduct in terms of every day and everything important in life: our history, our laws, and our jurisprudence. In all these things, our outlook is not only fundamentally different but also opposed to Hindus. There is nothing in life that links us together. Our names, clothes, food, festivals, and rituals, all are different. Our economic life, our educational ideas, treatment of women, attitude towards animals, and humanitarian considerations, all are very different.”
With this focused thought process in mind and his tireless efforts, Mohammad Ali Jinnah managed to get a separate nation for the Muslims of the sub-continent on the 14th of August 1947. A new precedent has been in the world when you put your thought to it, you can achieve anything. Pakistan Zindabad.

Hassan enjoys debates on socio-political issues. He is a self-declared conspiracy theorist, a selective foodie and a Fast & the Furious enthusiast. In his free time he likes to maintain a blog about automobiles.